


You need to rest

by DystopianDuckie



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: Cuddling, Rest, Wholesome, aroace, una is aroace
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-16 20:14:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28962285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DystopianDuckie/pseuds/DystopianDuckie
Summary: Set in the aftermath of the battle at the end of season 2 of Discovery, Number One tries to persuade Pike to get some much-needed rest.Una is aroace, and they are very wholesome.
Relationships: Number One & Christopher Pike
Comments: 9
Kudos: 26





	You need to rest

**Author's Note:**

> This is set on the Enterprise just after the battle at the end of Discovery season 2, so there is some mention to people dying. Just to be aware.  
> I have a headcannon that Una (Number One) is aroace (definitely not a self insert) and that her and Pike are a support network for each other on the ship. It's talked about a bit bluntly in the text, but I was trying to make it obvious.  
> Basically just 2K of wholesome softness.

\---*---

It had been a rough day, even by their standards. 

Una stood outside Chris’ quarters on the Enterprise, reminding herself again that he was here now. All she had to do was knock and she could find the peace that they had always had together. Except things had changed, hadn’t they? Not just the losses, the crew of the discovery, the people lying dead in sickbay, the admiral. No, she had seen a difference in him even before those. Something had happened. Things had shifted. And she wasn’t sure where they fit in all of that. 

“Come in,” she heard faintly from the other side of the door. It slid open before she had a chance to respond, the familiar sight of his quarters greeting her. 

“You were hovering,” Chris said, as though that explained it. 

“I wasn’t sure…” 

A flash of hurt crossed his face.

“It’s been a while,” she explained. 

“Just to be clear,” he said, stepping closer to her, “you are  _ always  _ welcome here. My time on Discovery didn’t change that.”

Una just sighed, letting her guard slip as the door slid closed behind her. 

“You look like shit,” she said. 

Chris laughed hollowly, “I can always count on you to tell me how it is.” He moved towards his desk, picking his padd up and unlocking it. 

“You need to rest.”

“I’ll rest when the work is done,” he replied, sitting down at his desk chair. 

“The work will never be done,” she said gently. “We’ve put out the fires, take the pause.” 

As if on cue, the replicator panel sparked and burst into flame. Una reacted on impulse, activating the fire extinguisher and putting out the blaze without even raising an eyebrow. It had been that kind of day. 

“Don’t say it,” she said, turning back to see Pike smirking at her. 

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Chris said. “But this is important.” 

“What are you working on?” Una asked, walking over to his desk. 

“Next of kin reports,” he said darkly. 

_ Oh _ . 

“A few more hours isn’t going to change that they’re gone,” Una said, keeping her voice as gentle as she could. “You look exhausted.” Not to mention the bloodstains that dotted the side of his shirt. She would work on getting him to let her look at them later. 

“They need to know, Una,” he said. “And they should hear it officially before any news spreads. I can’t sleep without them knowing that their loved ones are gone. I just can’t.” His voice broke, and a part of Una broke with it. This wasn’t Captain Pike dealing with his crew, this was Chris. And his heart ached. 

“I know,” she agreed, “and I drafted personal messages informing each of them of their loss and arranging a time in the morning for us to talk it through in person.” 

“When did you manage that?” he asked, face scrunching as he looked up at her, “it’s been chaos.”

“While you were visiting sickbay,” she explained. He liked to show his face when people were injured.

“You were monitoring the situation in engineering,” he pointed out, finally putting the padd down on the desk. 

“I can multitask,” Una replied. “But I made sure to pay them the proper attention.”

He nodded like he hadn’t doubted that but she had wanted to be clear that this wasn’t a rushed job. “You said you drafted them. Why not send them?”

She sat down in the chair on her side of the desk, her aching limbs happy for the respite. “I thought you would appreciate looking over them yourself, sir.” 

“Chris,” he corrected.

“Old habits,” she shrugged. It got harder to remember what to call him when she was tired, and boy was she tired. “Do you want to read them?” she asked, offering her own padd. 

“Can I be honest?” he asked, sighing. 

“Always.”

“I think you’re right,” he said. 

“I usually am,” Una quipped, earning a weak smile from Chris. “But in this case…?”

“I think you should send them and then we should both get some rest,” he admitted. His voice sounded more resolute now, more of the command Chris seeping through. It often did when he had to make difficult decisions, and Una had known him long enough to know that he would be feeling guilty about not handling it personally. 

“It’s okay to delegate, Chris,” she said, putting the padd down between them and taking his hand in her own. “Being a good leader means empowering those around you.” 

“Wise words.”

“I should hope so, you said them,” Una laughed. She pulled her padd back across the table and sent the reports with a quick press of a button. Better not to dwell on the people at the receiving end right now. She had done all that she could for them. 

“So bed?” Chris asked her. 

“Bed,” she nodded. “I’m assuming you showered earlier?” Judging by his damp hair he had, but it was better to check. No-one wanted to go to sleep with sweat from a battle still clinging to them. 

“It was the first thing I did when I got back here,” he said sadly. 

“And then you put your uniform back on?” Una teased, trying - not entirely successfully - to keep the mood light. 

“I didn’t want to work in sleep clothes today,” he explained, and Una knew that feeling all too well. Some things you wanted to keep away from your personal life as much as possible. It was futile, but they could try. 

“Then we should probably get changed,” Una sighed, putting her padd down and moving over to his bedside table. Well, it was more like her bedside table. 

She pulled her soft cotton sleep clothes out of her drawer, her heart warming as it always did at the fact that she had a drawer here. She started stripping out of her clothes, nothing sensual about it, just practicality. Other people might have gone to the bathroom to change in private, but Una had never seen the point in that. Chris had seen her naked before, one more time wouldn’t hurt. It wasn’t like they were going to have sex. 

She could hear Chris moving on the other side of the bed as she folded her dirty clothes neatly and put them in a pile ready for the washing cycle. Then she pulled the covers back and got in, an involuntary sigh coming out of her as her body felt the soft sheets. 

“Comfy?” Chris teased, getting in the other side of the bed.

“Captains get the best beds,” she replied, rolling on to her side to face him. 

“There’s got to be some perks to the job,” he laughed. “Count yourself lucky that you get to sleep here.”

Her smile dropped, a movement that would have been imperceptible to anyone else. 

“Not what I meant,” he said softly, “I like having you here. You make me feel safe.”

“If it was safety you wanted then you should have had Nhan sleep with you,” Una said, the expected burst of pain coming at the thought of her friend, now in stars knows where. “She was always better with a phaser.”

“As talented as Nhan is with a phaser I’m not sure how effective it would be on a nightmare,” Chris said, raising an eyebrow. “It’s not like she could shoot me in the head when I wake up afraid.” 

“Well it would stop the nightmare,” Una smiled, “technically if you were dead you wouldn’t be afraid.” 

“You are impossible,” he sighed, “and I thought we were going to sleep.” 

“We are.” 

They both rolled over to stare at the ceiling. 

“Computer, lights,” Chris said, plunging the room into darkness. Una sighed, letting the last of her command mask slip away.

“I couldn’t have had this with Nhan anyway,” Chris said quietly, “it would be inappropriate if there was a sexual component.”

Which wasn’t a problem for Una, who was aromantic asexual and more than happy to cuddle and share a bed. Chris, for his part, seemed happy with their setup as well, never pushing for more. They respected each other, and they found comfort here that was hard to find as the commanding officers of a ship. 

“And here I was just thinking you liked me,” she smiled, knowing that he couldn’t see it in the darkness. 

“Well obviously that too,” Chris replied, his voice heavier now as he started to drift off to sleep. 

Una closed her eyes, pulled the blankets up further around her, and followed suit. 

\---*---

Una awoke to Chris’ comm badge beeping quietly on his nightstand. He hadn’t woken yet, sleeping surprisingly peacefully beside her. 

She slipped out of the bed as quietly as she could, grabbing her own comm badge on the way and heading for the living area. 

“Commander Una to the bridge,” she said, keeping her voice low, “do you need something?” 

“Engineering has requested assistance from a commander,” Lt Barker, one of the night shift, said. He didn’t mention that Una had answered instead of the captain. They hadn’t explicitly talked about sleeping together, but it was a small ship. Gossip travelled. Thankfully no-one seemed to mind. 

“Tell them I’ll head straight there,” she said, already wondering whether to put her uniform back on. “And Barker?” 

“Yes sir?” 

“Next time call me first unless you expressly need the captain.” 

“Will do, sorry sir,” Barker replied. 

“Good work.” 

She decided to go in her pyjamas. That way she would have more time to sleep if she made it back before the morning shift. That, and she didn’t want the night shift to be  _ too  _ eager to wake her up on her off-hours. 

Maybe that was why they called Chris instead, she thought, smiling. Well too bad that she was the lighter sleeper.

\---*---

Thankfully she wasn’t needed in engineering for long. Forty minutes later she crept back into the captain’s quarters, the doors opening automatically when she neared. Hopefully, she would be able to get back to sleep without waking Chris up. 

“What happened,” he mumbled as she lifted the covers up. 

_ Drat _ . So much for that plan. 

“It’s okay, go back to sleep,” she whispered. 

“Was something wrong?” She could see the panic starting to rise on his face, the sleepiness wearing away. 

“A coolant leak on deck 7,” Una explained, giving up, “the ensigns on shift wanted some advice about how to deal with it.” 

While handholding ensigns was the most annoying reason to be woken up, Una couldn’t say that she minded tonight. It was better than the alternative of something else going horribly wrong. 

“Is it okay now?” Chris asked, propping himself up on his elbow. 

“It’s fine,” she whispered, pulling the covers up around herself and gently pushing Chris back down to the mattress. “We patched up the worst of it and Benson will take a look at it first thing tomorrow. After the day we have all had, it can wait.” 

“Ummmkay,” Chris hummed, so unlike him. He snuggled back down into the bed, reaching out an arm towards her tentatively. 

“Is that you asking if we can cuddle?” Una said, smiling in the darkness. 

“Maybe,” Chris said, his voice so gentle. “I had a nightmare while you were gone,” he admitted quietly. 

“I’m sorry,” she said. 

“You don’t need to be sorry,” he reassured her. “Thank you for taking the call,” he said after a moment. “I know which ensigns were on shift and there is no way they would call you for something small like a coolant leak.” 

“I don’t know what you mean,” she said, in mock hurt. “I’m always caring of the crew.” 

“Did you go in your pyjamas?” he asked, as though he knew exactly what game she was playing. 

“It might have been an emergency,” she said, “I don’t want it said that the ship was lost because I spent too long getting dressed.” 

“I love you,” he sighed. 

There was a time when that would have terrified her, laying together in a bed with him saying those words. But she trusted Chris, she knew what he meant and the boundaries that would never be crossed between them. 

“I love you too,” she said back, drawing closer to him. “And cuddling sounds good. Fingers crossed we won’t have to get up again before the morning.” 

“I wouldn’t count on that,” Chris said, wrapping his arms around her gently. “But I hope so too.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed!  
> Comments are very appreciated.  
> Have an awesome day and stay safe!


End file.
